Improvement in the manufacture of tobacco paper



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P. M. CONSUEGRA AND IRA MON AN'IIGUEDAD, or NEW'YORK, N. Y.

Letters Patent No. 92,427, dated J My 13, 1869.

mnovnunm' m was uannrmc'rm or TOBACCO raven The Schedule referred to in these Letters Patent and making part of the same,

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it'known that we, P. M. CONSUEGnA and RA-v MON ANTIGfiEDAD,-haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in the Means of Manufacturing Paper from Tobacco, to be used for'the wrappers of cigarettes and analogous purposes, for wrappers or envelopes for furs and analogous articles liable to be attacked by insects, and for other purposes; and we do hereby declare that the following is a full and exact description thereof.-=;

We manufacture our paper entirely of tobacco, using the-following peculiar means or process. We produce a good quality of paper in-a very little time,and with a high degree of economy.- I

In our process for the manufacture of tobacco paper, patented February 2,1869, we boiled the tobacco some six hours, and. then beat it in an engine some fourteen hours, using pure water, without chemicals; and we attached much importance to the absence of chemicals, and the preservation of a portion of the water, in which was the original strength of the tobacco. \Ve believed that-we could soften the tobacco in cold or tepid water, by using a longer time,

' but could employ steam as a heating-agent, but without designating the manner of its application.

Now, by our present improvement, weoperaie much faster, secure a pulp which is less adhesive, and produce paper which possesses, we believe, identical qualities with that produced by our previous slower and less practicable mode of procedure.

To carry out our present invention, we employ quick-lime to'aid in the disintegration of the tobacco,

and afterwards wash it out of the milk, thereby losing all the juice or strength of the tobacco previously liberated; butwe retain sutlicient of the tobacco-qualities in the fibre to give the paper the character desired. We employ about a half cask of good quick or unslaked lime for five hundred gallons of water.

We first boil the lime in a small quantity of water, only just sufficient forits dissolution. We then strain the milk, thus obtained, through several thicknesses of fine woollen or analogous material, which arrests, not only all the foreign matter, but all the lumps or undissolved particles, using only the very thin and thoroughly-dissolved solutiom This we pour into theother water, and heat the whole to the boiling-point.

The means whereby the. heat is applied to the dilute solution or milky water, thus produced, is not absolutely essential; but we prefer, for various reasons, to heat by coils,'or a series of steam-pipes, collected mainly in or near the middle of the bottom of the vesse Steam, at proper pressure, beingcirculated in these now throw the tobacco into the boiling mass,

adding it rapidly, but not so fast as toreduce the mass below the boiling-point. y y

\Ve consider it essential that the ebullition be very active, particularly at this stage of the proceeding. If the tobacco is wetted with cool or only moderately-heated water, its subsequent behavior is modified for the worse. g We can use, in our process, either the stems alone,

or the stems and leaves together, as they grow, or the fine material of the leaves,carefully separated from the stems, byhand or otherwise.

The latter produces the finer material, and is a little sooner turned out in the condition of finished paper;

but the process is, in other respects, the same for each is shut off, and a cock is opened, which drains vthe I water, through a suitably-perforated plate or strainer,

from the bottom of the tank.

When the limy water is thus drawn out, the .dis-

charge-cock is closed, and fresh cold water is admitted to again fill the tank.

After a very brief period, this will have permeated the mass, andon this water being discharged through the bottom of the tank, the softened tobacco may be lifted with forks and put into the ordinarypulpingengine, where it is heat about eight hours, subjected all the time to the ordinary changes of the fluid; that is to say, the water in the pnlpingengine is being constantly drawn oil or discharged, through a revolving or other strainer, and a liberal quantity of fresh water is'being constantly admitted.

The completion of the pulping-operation is ascertained by trial, in the'nsual way, and the pulp is separated, and reduced to thecondition of paper by the Fourdrinier or other machine, in the same manner as' other paper.

We can add any flavoring or other material during the latter part of the operation, if preferred, but do not I find it generally necessary or desirable. Our paper'is preferred without sizing, or any ingredient other than the tobacco itself.

We are aware that soda has been used in the production of paper from tobacco, and 'do not claim,

broadly, the employment of alkalies to facilitate the reduction of tobacco to a pulp; but we believe that none of the previous experimenters have succeeded in ing, the whole being conducted in the manner and producing'a. valuable or salable paper by means of alfor the purposes herein set forth. kalies, as they have worked them. In testimony whereof, we have hereunto set out What we claim as new, is names, in presence of two subscribing witnesses.

The within-described process or treatment of to- P. M. GONSUEGRA. hacco for the production of paper, the same consistv I RAMON ANTIGUEDAD. ing in the direct introduction of the dry tobacco into \Vit-nesses:

n carefully-strained and actively-boiling solution of W. O. DEY,

lime in water, with the subsequent washing and pulp- OZ 0. Lwmss. 

